OpenFn / OpenFn/lightning

Adaptor Version Rethink

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DevX discussion feature enhancement
Dominant language
Elixir
Stars
296
Forks
86
Avg merge
1d 13h
Merged PRs (30d)
50

Description

I think we should reconsider how adaptor versions work on the platform. This is related to #2843, which fixes an immediate problem, but this issue I hope is a longer term view.

The Problem

  • Workflows tend to get locked on an old patch version and never get updated. This can introduce security concerns.
  • Workflows on @latest will drift across major versions and sometimes blow up (seemingly at random). We should not allow this.

Solutions

I suggest this:

  • Significantly de-prioritise the adaptor version across the Lightning UI. We should try to report versions as @4.x rather than listing the full patch version. The worker/runtime should continue to log the patch version.
  • When running a job, always run it from the latest minor. This probably means that lightning sends versions with just a major, ie @4, and the Worker translates this to the latest patch.
  • Show a security alert of some kind for workflows which are on an old major version. Maybe combine with an email alert. Basically we want to encourage manual migration for adaptors that are out of date
  • Allow a workflow to be pinned to a specific patch version. This is a get out of jail free card. This is maybe a small button next to the adaptor version picker which opens up a dialog. It must be low in the hierarchy
  • Maybe there isn't even a version picker - maybe for new steps the adaptor is auto-locked to latest, and there is one button to "pick a version" and one to "upgrade to latest" (which kicks off some sort of migration process). So we show the version as read-only, but provide buttons to change version, and make it feel like an advanced thing.

Contributor guide

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reading #2843 and tracing how adaptor versions are represented across the Lightning UI and Worker/runtime. Turn the proposed versioning, security-alert, pinning, and migration ideas into an agreed scope; done means the long-term approach is decided and split into actionable implementation work.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
elixir
Domain
full-stack
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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